


cats are connoisseurs of comfort

by from_nova



Series: all you need is love and a cat [1]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Eddie Diaz-centric (9-1-1 TV), Family Feels, Fluff and Humor, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:20:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29420025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/from_nova/pseuds/from_nova
Summary: He was shaken from his spiral of remembering the victim they almost lost by the feeling of something soft pressed against his arm. He looks down to see a brown and tan cat sitting next to him. Markings similar to what you see on a cheetah covered its body as it sits staring at Eddie.Hesitantly, Eddie reaches out and lets it sniff his fingers. When it sniffs and accepts the hand, it's head turns and lifts to rub against the back of it. Eddie can’t help but grin as he moves to pet the cat. “Where’d you come from?” He questions as he scratches the top of its head.---In which, Eddie befriends a cat.
Relationships: Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV) & Bobby Nash, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Series: all you need is love and a cat [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2161239
Comments: 22
Kudos: 94





	cats are connoisseurs of comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is acting as a prequel of sorts for a fic I'm going to be writing that will be an actual Buddie fic. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title is a quote by James Herriot

The firehouse was quiet around Eddie. He sat on the ground leaning against the side of the couch as he stared out at the window. There’s still way too much light outside but there’s some moon light filtering in. He lets his head rest against the misshapen arm of the couch as he gazes at the way the light falls and the different hues being cast upon the surfaces of the living room area.    
  
He’s been trying to think of anything besides how that last call went for the last 2 hours. He tried sleeping but after an hour of on and off again sleeping he got up. The tossing and turning wasn’t going to help anyone who was actually going to get rest and the images that filled in the black of his eyelids wasn’t going to help him.   
  
He was shaken from his spiral of remembering the victim they almost lost by the feeling of something soft pressed against his arm. He looks down to see a brown and tan cat sitting next to him. Markings similar to what you see on a cheetah covered its body as it sits staring at Eddie. 

Hesitantly, Eddie reaches out and lets it sniff his fingers. When it sniffs and accepts the hand, it’s head turns and lifts to rub against the back of it. Eddie can’t help but grin as he moves to pet the cat. “Where’d you come from?” He questions as he scratches the top of its head.    
  
He moves to get a better look at it. There isn’t any sort of collar on it and its fur is a little matted like it had been outside for a while. The cat doesn’t take long to crawl into his lap and get comfortable. Eddie stares unsure but lets it. He will admit that he stopped thinking about the call for the first time since they left the scene so he can’t really be upset at the cat.    
  
“You know,” He starts because at this rate he’s not 100% sure that he isn’t just imagining the cat so why not talk to it. “I’ve never had a pet. My dad was on the road too much. My mom said pets were messy. My sisters tried convincing her to get a cat when I was 12 but she just wouldn’t go for it.”   
  
The cat just stared at him as he rambled. A light purr had been drifting from it as he continuously pet it in a rhythmic motion. He kept talking to it as he watched the sky move. “Christopher, my son, is really into space right now. Between him and Buck, I hear all about it. Lately they’ve gone from space, to Roman mythology and now to Greek mythology.”    
  
He returns his head to rest against the arm of the couch as he keeps talking. “They were telling me about Atlas,” The cat seems to purr a little louder at the name. “You like that? Atlas?”   
  
“Well, it's something to call you for now. Atlas is this guy who holds the world on his shoulders and keeps it up. I think we all know what that feels like sometimes.” He sighs while closing his eyes.    
  
\---   
  
“What do we do? You saw what the thing did when I went near him.” Eddie hears Buck say as he starts to wake up. His back is in knots from where he fell asleep leaning against the couch. He feels a pressure leave his lap as he pulls his arms up in a stretch and sits up. When he opens his eyes, he sees the cat from last night staring at him. Huh, so it was real.   
  
Eddie out of the corner of his eye sees a figure standing to his left by the dining table. He turns and sees Hen and Buck looking between him and the cat. Atlas, his mind supplies rather quickly.   
  
“Hey,” He groans as he pulls himself up to his feet.   
  
“Hi, sleeping on the floor? Befriending cats?” Hen questions gesturing to the cat that moved to nudge its head against Eddie’s legs. Eddie sighs staring down at the cat.   
  
“It was an accident and I don’t know where Atlas here came from.” He responds while moving to the kitchen. He wasn’t really interested in explaining himself.    
  
“Atlas? You named the beast?” Buck questions, following him to the other end of the loft. Eddie turns and raises an eyebrow at him before glancing at the happy cat that trailed him to the kitchen as well.   
  
“Your friend hissed at Buck when Buck tried to wake you up, so he’s a little offended.” Hen supplies and Eddie rolls his eyes.    
  
“It’s a nice cat, Buck. I promise.” Eddie sighs as he makes himself a coffee, but the answer is obviously isn’t something Buck’s ready to agree to based on the pout he has.   
  
\---   
  
Atlas hangs around after that. He keeps to Eddie and rarely interacts with anyone else. Eddie and Bobby reached out to local shelters and businesses and no one has reported it missing. Without intention, he became the firehouse cat.    
  
Eddie made sure they kept food stocked for Atlas. It liked to hang out in the common areas but Eddie often found it curled up on the bunk that he sleeps in on overnight shifts. Bobby has no complaints as long as it gets taken care of and stays out of supplies and the trucks   
  
It is still a menace to Buck though. Eddie finds it hilarious when Buck tries to sit next to him on the couch and the cat swats at him. Buck takes the seat anyways but pouts as the cat side eyes him.    
  
“I just don’t get what I did.” He complains to Eddie as he keeps his eyes locked on the cat. Eddie laughs softly at him as he aimlessly pets the cat who's laying in a loaf on the pillow in his lap.    
  
“He just doesn’t like sharing. You know all about that right?” Eddie teases while grinning at Buck, who rolls his eyes in return. Buck reaches out to Atlas who just ignores him, making Eddie laugh. “I’m gonna make him love me.” Buck promises in a matter of fact tone.

\---   
  
“Dad!” Eddie hears yelled making him look up from where he’s standing at the railing of the loft. He’d been staring off for who knows how long when his attention snaps to where Christopher and Carla are now in the engine bay.    
  
“Christopher!” He yells back before making his way down the stairs to them. Chris is all smiles as he gets a hug from his dad and as Buck happily comes out from the locker room where he was talking to Bobby to come see him.    
  
“Just a little pit stop on the way home. Apparently he learned about Eddie’s cat friend and had to see it for himself.” Carla adds making Buck roll his eyes. He obviously has not had success with getting the cat to like him in the couple months that they’ve had the cat hanging around.    
  
Eddie grins though and looks around. Atlas isn’t in the bay and Eddie knows he didn’t leave him upstairs so he’s probably sleeping in the bunk room. “I’ll go get him,” He says before taking off.   
  
When he goes into the room, sure enough Atlas is curled up on his pillow. He goes ahead and picks him up. The cat opens his eyes to see what’s happening, but when it sees that it's Eddie who has him, he closes them again and rolls to his back in Eddie’s arms.   
  
Eddie gets back to the group and sees Christopher and Buck talking about school today with Carla adding in occasionally. When Christopher sees him, his eyes light up. “He’s real!” Christopher yells as he bends down a bit to let him pet the cat. Eddie can’t help but remember thinking the same when he woke up and saw that cat that first morning. 

“Chris, meet Atlas. Atlas, this is my son Christopher.” Atlas looks at the hand that’s rubbing his stomach and just stretches out while purring.    
  
“I think he likes you” Eddie adds trying to hold back laughter as he hears an exasperated “Come on!” from Buck. He knows they’re both happy that the cat likes Christopher though. Eddie couldn’t imagine having to deal with Christopher being crushed by the cat not wanting anything to do with him.   
  
Atlas jumps down after a few moments and just nuzzles against Christopher’s leg who giggles at the animal. “Wait, you named him Atlas?” Christopher asks with a grin looking up at Eddie.    
  
“I did,” Eddie smiles before bumping his shoulder with Buck’s who’s by his side again. “I was thinking a lot about all that you and Buck told me about him the night we met.”   
  
He doesn’t need to look over at Buck to see the fond look on his face as he connects the dots. Eddie always listens to him, but Buck always seems to be amazed when Eddie brings up what he’s talked about. It’s one of Eddie’s favorite looks so he decides to look anyways. Sure enough, Buck’s looking at him with that dopey grin.   
  


\---   
  
Carla and Christopher leave about 20 minutes later when they get a call. Chris is quick to worry about who will be with the cat while they’re gone. He tries to put up the argument that he should go home with Carla and him, but Eddie promises that the cat is fine before hurrying to the truck.   
  
When they get back from the call, the cat is lazily lying on the couch waiting for Eddie to collapse on the couch next to him. He finally does a minute later and the cat is quick to lay in his lap and offer as much comfort as it can. It wasn’t even a rough call. Everything went well. It was just a long and draining call. The cat seems to take that from Eddie’s energy immediately.    
  
Eddie’s about to drift off when Bobby takes a seat next to him. “Eddie,” He starts making Eddie groan already. This can’t be good. “Cap?”   
  
“I’ve been thinking… about the cat.” Eddie sits up quickly at that. Atlas glares at him at the sudden movement and Eddie winces petting the cat as it gets comfortable again. “What about him?”   
  
“I think he needs a home. A real home.” Bobby continues. Eddie just looks down at the cat and tries to think about the implications of this. Atlas has been his cat for the last 2 months. He loves him. He’ll admit that this cat is so ingrained in his life that he loves him.    
  
“I think  _ you  _ should take him home, Eddie.” Eddie looks up at him again. His eyebrows furrowed as he tries to figure out where this is coming from. “Today, I watched as a father and son loved this cat. He deserves a real home. This firehouse is a great second home for all of us, but the cat seems to like the Diazes more than anyone else.”   
  
And Eddie is asking Carla to stay late before he knows it. Bobby’s right and he’s bringing Atlas home.   
  
\---   
  
“You’re really doing this?” Buck asks as Eddie has him open the back door for his truck. Eddie rolls his eyes as he sets his bag down and then the cat. Atlas stares as Eddie closes the door and turns to Buck.   
  
“I am. I think it's the right thing to do.” Eddie replies confidently before opening the driver’s door for himself. “Are you coming to the pet store with us or what?”   
  
He watches as Buck glances at where Atlas is prancing around the backseat before sighing and running to the passenger’s side.   
  
“Him and Chris really did get along.” Buck admits to Eddie as he drives out of the parking lot. Eddie grins at him as he hears Atlas meowing from the back. “They did.” He hums back.   
  
They get to the pet store rather quickly. Buck and Atlas had been going back and forth the whole ride. Buck tries to pet him, he swats at Buck. Eddie groans and tells Buck to leave the cat alone. It's something they’re all used to at this point.    
  
Eddie happily scoops up the cat before leaving his car. Buck is by his side before he knows it. They bump shoulders as they walk into the store. Eddie makes Buck grab a cart so he can carry the cat. “Why can’t you get it?” Buck asks and Eddie’s response of “Do you want to hold the cat?” shuts him up rather quickly.    
  
\---   
  
Eddie gets home and would rather not admit how much money he just spent. Buck has been sworn to secrecy on it too. He opens the door and Carla appears around the corner with a knowing grin.    
  
“I had a feeling.” She quips as she takes the cat from Eddie’s arms so he can get the bags inside.    
  
“He goes to Carla, too!” Buck questions as he gets through the door behind Eddie. “Eddie, make your cat like me.”   
  
Eddie goes to respond, but is stopped when he sees Christopher come out of his room and sees the cat in Carla’s arms. “Atlas!”   
  


Eddie can’t help but grin as Carla guides Christopher to the couch and sets Atlas in his lap. The cat looks around a moment before making itself comfortable with Christopher.   
  
“We’re keeping him?” He asks Eddie with hopeful eyes. Eddie nods happily as he moves to sit down with them. He scratches the top of the cat’s head before nodding. “Say Welcome Home, Atlas.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm not sure when the buddie fic that goes with will be posted. It's gonna be a long one haha.
> 
> You can find me @from-nova on Tumblr as well! I'm always happy to chat.


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